Japanese schoolgirl says education is pointless, gets schooled in debate on Twitter

Internet users offer counterpoints that suggest disgruntled high school student may, in fact, not know everything.

Japan, in general, holds education to be extremely important, and so on average Japanese teens tend to be much more studious than their counterparts in many other nations. Still, it’s not like every kid in Japan is eager to hit the books when he or she could be hanging out with friends, eating crepes, watching anime, or playing video games.

For example, Japanese Twitter user and high school student @ab6f9cbcda5b402 recently fired off this cranky message about the typical high school subjects to her followers.

Japanese class☞I already know Japanese.Math☞It’s not going to help me in the future.Science☞I’m not trying to get a science job.Social studies☞There’s no point in looking back at the past.Music☞Not interested.Technical skill courses☞I don’t plan on becoming a carpenter.Art☞Anybody can draw pictures.English☞This is Japan.

Unfortunately for @ab6f9cbcda5b402, her call to arms to throw mud on the existing educational system went largely unanswered, garnering less than 300 retweets, meaning that the majority of even her 750-odd followers don’t share her sentiment. On the other hand, this rebuttal from Twitter user @geshtamjump struck a much deeper chord with the Japanese Internet.

Japanese → If you can’t use it properly, you’ll embarrass yourself.Math → There are tons of jobs it’s useful in.Science → If you don’t learn it, you’ll get tricked by pseudo-science scams.Social studies → If you don’t know how society is built, you’ll always end up with the short end of the stick.Music → Okay, so you’re not interested in it.Technical skills → If you can’t operate a computer, you’ve got no future.Art → I can’t draw pictures.English → This is Earth.

@geshtamjump’s take on things racked up over 10,000 retweets, with commenters chiming in with their agreement as well as expressing their exasperation at what they say as @ab6f9cbcda5b402’s narrow-mindedness.

“So just what the heck does [she] want to study?”

“[After looking through some of @ab6f9cbcda5b402’s other grammatically spotty tweets] Haha she actually can’t write in Japanese.”

“Music → If you don’t understand it, you’ll be considered uncultured.”

“If you’re the kind of person who says you won’t need anything you learn in school except language courses, have fun working full-time for 150,000 yen (US$1,340) a month.”

“She’ll make the perfect new employee who’s completely worthless to her company and coworkers.”

“’This is Earth.’ Awesome.”

In @ab6f9cbcda5b402’s defense, she just started high school a week ago, according to one of her previous tweets, and with the excitement of a new school and new friends now transitioning to the less exciting routine of homework and test preparation, she’s probably not the only teen who’s feeling a bit resentful of her educational responsibilities. Perhaps in deference to her perspective, one commenter offered this still-exasperated yet slightly gentler counter-argument.